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“The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy!”
Brothers and sisters in Jesus, we heard an echo this morning of the suffering endured by the People of God centuries before Jesus; when many of their relatives, friends, and neighbours were taken into captivity in exile. After a few generations, the Lord addressed this good word of encouragement to them – which we just heard – through the prophet Baruch: the Lord had not forgotten his people in exile and He fully intended to bring them back home.
We notice the same pattern today and, in fact, in every generation. The Lord does not keep us from enduring trouble, but once we are in trouble, the Lord does not forget us. In fact, He is right there with us in the very midst of our trouble, and the help we need is what He offers us: He pours his own Spirit into us to give us light and understanding, courage and strength.
“The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy!”
We would much prefer that the Lord would save us from having to endure trouble in the first place, but that is not the way of the Lord. God knows that when the burning flames of our trouble cast us into the heart of the fiery furnace, those very flames burn away impurities in our mind and spirit, and they purify the intentions of our heart. The very efforts we make to face all our trouble, these efforts actually make us stronger and bring us closer to the person we deeply want to be, closer and closer to the best possible version of ourselves.
“The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy!”
When we find ourselves in the jaws of some trouble or other, it is a challenge for us to remember that we are always in the Presence of the Most Holy Trinity, and that God is most interested in our life and in our progress. We have been designed by our Creator to love all things and all people with a love that is pure and unselfish, a love that forgets itself in order to give all its attention to the other. However, because of our damaged human condition, we are forgetful of God and, living as if God were absent or as if God did not exist, we put all of our attention and energy into trying to meet all our challenges on our own.
To resolve this human condition of isolation from our Creator, our Father God first sent prophets to his Chosen People, and then in time He sent his only begotten Son into our midst. Now, in our own lifetime, the Father continues to send us his beloved Son, who is one and the same with Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Lord of lords and the King of kings.
Every moment of every day the Holy Spirit, who came to dwell within us at Baptism, shines his divine light within our mind, heart, and soul; reminding us of Jesus and inviting us to open our mind, heart, and soul to Him, to Jesus, the One who came among us as a little Child.
“The Lord has done great things for us;
we are filled with joy!”
Before Jesus launched into the mission entrusted to Him by his Father, the Holy Spirit led Him into the desert, where He was tempted by the Enemy of Mankind, Satan the devil, to be rich, famous, and powerful. He tempted Jesus to be the opposite of what the Father sent Him to be among us: poor, unknown, and weak, like us.
“The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy!”
We are all of us tempted in similar ways by the Enemy of Mankind, Satan the devil, to be rich, famous, and powerful. Wealth, popularity, and power are of themselves good things and are very attractive to us human beings. The problem with ordinary good things is that they tend to distract us from the best and most important things, like integrity, family, and mutual love.
“The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy!”
God our Creator designed us; so, He knows that we will only be truly happy when we become the person we are meant to be, when we know where we belong, and when we forget ourselves in order to give our loving attention to others, especially those most in need of us.
John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, is God’s gift to us today, the 2nd Sunday of Advent, in order to remind us that we don’t need to remain trapped forever in the attractive things of this life. If only we open our mind, heart, and soul to God our Father and ask Him to deliver us; then, He will most certainly set us free by bringing us into a more personal relationship with his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The beauty of Advent is that it is a time for us to prepare to approach Jesus at his poorest, most vulnerable stage of life, when He was a helpless little newborn Baby.
“The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy!”
At Jesus’ Birth, even the shepherds brought little gifts to the newborn Infant. Every Mass is like Christmas. With bread and wine to honour Jesus, we offer to the eternal Father everything that is happening in our life, and all our efforts to live as children of God, since the last time we came to the Altar of the Lord. In our poverty, we pray: « O my Jesus, I trust in You! » Our Good God wants to forgive us our sins and remove from our minds, hearts, and souls every obstacle to his love, for He is God: the Father, and + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In silence with the Holy Spirit guiding us, let us ponder
the gift we bring to the Lord.
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© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles
Surprenant, Associate of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles
Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik,
Montréal QC
